Can-capping machine.



J. E..H|RES.

CAN CAPPING MACHINE.

. APPLICATION FILED AUG.26, I916. 1,241,978. Patented 0% 2,1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

lokflff/ 'mi MW n I By I v w q ATTORNEYS I I. E. HIRE S.

CAN CARPING'MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.26, 1916.

5SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented 0%. 2,1917.

WITNESSES WWW Q L 24 w ATTORNEYS J. "E. HIRES. CAN ICAPPIING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.26. 191s.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

-5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- INVEIV TOR WI TNE SSE 8 g \l- ATTORNEYS J. E. HIRES.

GAN CAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ALIG.26. 1916.

1,241,978. Patented Oct. 2,1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

l/VVEN TOR I I a y w 0 O JOHN EDGAR HIRES, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAN-CAPPING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

Application filed August 26, 1916. Serial No. 116,976

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. Hmns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can-Capping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the sealing of cans containing products of various kinds and classes, in the present instance condensed milk, and the main object thereof is to provide a machine for automatically sealing such cans in anair-tight manner and in large numbers after the contents of the cans have been poured thereinto.

My invention is particularly adapted to that class of cans having the tops secured thereon in the manufacture of the cans, and which tops have, each, an aperture adapted to be capped and the cap secured to the top by crimping the metal of which the top and cap are composed.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form'a part, in which like characters refer to like parts in each of the views, and in which v Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention, partly in section on a central, vertical, longitudinal plane, with the parts in inoperative positions though ready for operation;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Flg. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of parts shown in Fig. 1 in operative position; on line 4-4 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a view of Fig. 4 in the direction of the arrow X; 1

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional fragment of Flg. 4;

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 88 of Flg. 9;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on the line 99 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a section taken on the line 10-10 of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, 11 represents a base or support having hangers 12 thereunder for a drive shaft 13 provided with drive pulleys 14, one of which may be free,

and with a worm 15, Figs. 1 and 3, said worm being enmeshed with a worm gear 16 on a shaft 17 carrying three spur pinions 18, 19 and 20 the last named of which is enmeshed with a gear 21 on a vertical shaft 22 carried by bearings 23 beneath the base 11 and 24 carried by arched supports 25 which also carry annular cams 26 and 27, Figs. 1 and 4.

Keyed on the shaft 22, beneath the said cams, is a disk 28 carrying a plurality of crimping units to be described and said shaft serves as a guide for an independently rotatable sleeve 29 keyed to a spur gear 30 at its lower end enmeshed with an idle gear 31 in turn enmeshed with the pinion 19, Fig. 1,'and said sleeve 29 carries an adjustable ring 32 supporting a spur gear 33 keyed to the sleeve and rotatable therewith but, because of the idle gear 31, in a reverse direction to that of the shaft 22.

Rotatably seated on the gear 30 is a gear I 34 to the hub of which is keyed a disk 35 provided with a plurality of semi-circular recesses in its periphery and the gear 34 is enmeshed with a similar gear 36 carrying a disk 37 similar to the disk 35 and rotatable with as vertical shaft 38 provided with a bevel pinion 39 at its lower end enmeshed with a bevel gear 40 on a shaft 41 carried in hangers 42 beneath the base 11 and provided with a pulley 43 at its outer end.

The pulley 43 is connected, by means of a belt 44, with a pulley 45 on a shaft 46 carried in a support 47 and provided with a supplemental pulley 48 joined, by means of a. belt 49, with a pulley 50 on a' shaft 51 above the base and carrying a roller 52 for one end of a conveyer belt 53 for transporting a continuous line of filled cans to the machine.

The gear 36 is enmeshed with a pinion 54, Fig. 3, on a vertical shaft 55 guided in a shell support 56 and provided with a bevel pinion 57 at its upper'end enmeshed with a bevel gear 58 on a horizontal shaft 59 carrying a disk 60 having a plurality of fingers 61, Fig. 8, normally held in outermost positions by means of springs 62 and limited 'in their movements by pins 63, said fingers successively entering a channeled cap guide 64 arranged beneath a cap hopper 65 rotated by the shaft"46.

The hopper 65, Figs. 8 and 9, is provided with a plurality of equidistant studs 66 the 11 0.

function of which is to separate individual caps from the mass thereof and pass them toa guideway 67 whende they pass to the channeled guide 64, the spaces between the.

studs 66 being the size of the caps and the studs being so formed as to make the conformation of said spaces that of the caps whereby the latter must all pass to the guideway 67 with similar sides faced in the same direction. I

The studs 66 serve as the joining members of the two similar sections of the hopper, Fig. 8, and it provide a gravity tooth '68 between said hopper sections for clearing any caps which might have stuck between two of the studs, saidcaps being led to the hopper by means of'a chute 69, and it will b3 noted that the guideway 67 and the pivot f r the gravity tooth 68 are part of a stationary continuation of the channeled guide 64 upwardly thereof while the lower end of said guide 64 is curved, at 7 0,.to approximately follow the conformation of the disk 60 to a point slightly removed from the transverse vertical axial plane of the disk 60, and the interior of said guide 64 has a cross sectional conformation which prevents v the turning of the caps therein to present other than their concaved faces to the disk '60.

vThe normal downward movement of the caps is prevented by a pin 71 held inwardly I of the guide 64 by means of a spring 72,

1 provided with another arm 77 held in the Fig. 9, which yields under pressure brought- -to bear thereon in a manner to be described,

and approximately the distance of one cap diameter above the piny71 is a stop 73 normally held inwardly by means of a spring 74 though adapted to be moved outwardly by an arm 75 on a vertical rotatable bar 76 path of the cans 78, Fig. 10, and it will be noted that when a can moves the arm 77 into cans.

Each unit consists of a bracket 80, 4, to which is pivoted a lever 81 having a roller 82 at its free end bearingagainst the cam 26 and being recessed intermediate its lengti to receive the upper end of a vertically arranged plunger 83 the lower end of which is normally held slightly above the plane of .the moving cans and provided with a reduced conical member 84 the shape ofwhich ran s/s is of great importance and the diameter of which is slightly less at its lowest portion than the cavity in the cap and a small bead is provided at its extremity, and said plunger may be vertically adjusted by means of an adjusting screw 85.

The upper end of the plunger or spindle 83 is angular in cross section to fit the recess in the lever 81 and thus prevent its rotation, the lever 81 and spindle 83 being normally held in uppermost position by means of a spring 86 the lower end of which bears on a member of a ball cage to be described, and it will be seen that when the lever 81 is forced downwardly by the cam 26in the revolution of the carrier or spider 28 the spindle 83 is correspondingly moved.

Pivoted to a bracket 87 on the spider 28 is a lever 88 provided with a roller 88 at its free end bearing against cam 27, said lever having a passage therethrough for the spindle 83 and the spring 86 and being provided with set screws 89 hearing on the upper bearing member 90 of the ball cage referred to and against which the spring 86 also bears said bearing member 90 resting upon the balls 91 which in turn bear upon a lower bearing member 92 which is vertically adjustable on a sleeve 93 freely movable on the spindle 83 and keyed to though vertically slidable in a tube 94 because of a pin or feather 95; held in a collar 96 rotatable on the spider 28.

The tube 94 carries a spur pinion 97 enmeshed with the gear 33 and vertically adjustable by means of a nut 98, the lower end of saidtube 94 having a bracket 99 secured thereto by means of lock nuts 100 and 101 androtatable with said tube and the sleeve 93 keyed to the latter.'

bifurcated, is pivoted a link 102 the lower end of which is pivotally connected to the bifurcated arms of a lever 103 pivoted to spread lower portions of the sleeve 93, Fig. 5, and an adjustable-post 104 is securely held in the lever 103 by means of lock nuts 105 i and 106, said post serving as a support for a stud shaft 107 carrying a crimping Wheel 108, said lever 103 and crimping wheel being normally held in the position shown in Fig. l by means of a spring .109 connected witl the bracket 99.

W hen, in the revolution of the spider 28, me lever 88 is depressed by the cam 27 the ball cage and the sleeve 93 are correspondingly depressed and, the bracket 99 being prevented from vertical movement, the lever 103 is swung downwardly at its free end against the action of the spring 109 thereby moving the crimping wheel 108 toward the lower end of the spindle 83 into the position shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 and the spring 109 returnsthe wheel 108 to normal position when permitted to do so The path of movement of the filled cans is indicated by arrows in Fig. 3, being fed to. the successive recesses in the disk 37 by the power conveyer belt 53 and maintained in said recesses by means of a guide 110 until they pass to the respective recesses in the disk 35.

' When a filled can approaches the lower curved end 70 of the cap guide 64 the respective finger 61 of the cap feeding disk 60 carries a cap to and into the opening in the can top, Fig. 8, the next succeeding finger 61 in the meantime engaging a new cap at the stop pin 71 which had been permitted to pass thereto by the engagement of a filled can with the arm 77 to rock the bar 76 to release or retract the stop 73, after ghich the finger first mentioned passes upardly out of cap engagement and the filled and loosely capped can then passes to the disk 35, this can movement and cap feed being continuous.

The cam 26 is so formed as to depress the spindle 83 into the loose cap of a filled can when the latter reaches a position where one half thereof is in the disk 37 and the other half in the disk 35, with the two re spective disk recesses in juxtaposition, and the loosely capped can is moved thereafter by the disk 35 and maintained in relative position by the said spindle through approximately one half of a revolution of the disk 35, although a guide may be provided to insure a proper path of movement of the loosely capped can if desired.

By tracing the gearing hereinbefore described it will be seen that the spider 28 and disk 35 revolve together in the same direction and at the same speed, but the gear 33 is reversed because of the idler 31 and thereby rapidly rotates the relatively small pinions 97 which cause the crimping wheels 108 to revolve rapidly around the respective spindles, the latter being held against rotation on their axes.

In this one half revolution of the disk 35 with the loosely capped can the lever 88, heretofore raised, corresponding to the depressed lever 81 which had forced the spin-. dle referred to into cap engagement, is depressed by the cam 27 to move the crimping wheel controlled thereby into crimping position and, because of the rapid revolution thereofaround the respective spindle, the cap is ,crimped to the flange of the can as is clearly shown in Fig. 7.

When this crimping has been accomplished the levers 88 and 81 rise to permit the crimping wheel and spindle to resume their normal positions, the capped can now being in the position of a guide 111 which leads the same toward a guide 112, Fig. 3, whence it passes to a chute, conveyer, or equivalent 113, and this can capping and conveying is continuous for the succeeding cans because of the relatively large number of crimping units, shown as eight but many more may be provided.

By reference to Fig. 7 it will be noted that the conical member 8 1 of the spindle 83, as well as the bead thereon, together with the formation of the periphery of the crimping wheel 108 and its relatively angular mounting, collectively produce an absolutelv air-tight lock between the can flan e and the cap, it not being intended that t e cap be removed but that the top be cut adjacent the side of the can in the usual manner to permit removal of the contents from the can.

Because of the relatively small opening in the top of the can the contents are practically unexposed between the filling and the capping operations, this opening being sufficiently large, however, for the filling v operation and the small size of the cap makes the capping operation very inexpen sive and permits the attachment of the top to the can in the manufacture of the latter,

and soldering is entirely eliminated in the can sealing after filling.

My machine is thoroughly practical, of relatively few parts, is positive in action, and of great capacity, as well as requiring no attention whatever from employees of a can filling plant other than an examination from time to time as to the supply of ca s.

%Vhile I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to limit myself to the exact details shown and described, as many changes may be made thereover which would be within the spirit of the invention and withinthe scope of the appended claims.

Having 'fully described my invention," what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a rotatable carrier, concentric cams arranged concentri cally with respect to the carrier, plungers movably mounted on the carrier in spaced relation in a circle, a sleeve on each plunger, a wheel associated with each sleeve, means between each sleeve and wheel for moving the latter into and out of operative relation with the plunger by the movement of the sleeve, a lever fulcrumed adjacent one lever with a plunger, and means for connecting the other lever with a sleeve.

2. A can capping machine comprising a member for engaging a placed cap and pressing the same in setting relation to the can, a crimping wheel for crimping the edge of the cap, a lever on which the wheel is mounted, a rotatable member movable longitudinally of the first-mentioned member and supporting the lever to cause the wheel to revolve around the cap, and means located at the side of the first member opposite from the wheel for fulcrumi'ng the lever.

3. In a machine for capping cans, the combination of a rotatable can carrier, a plurality of cap engaging plungers disposed around the center of the carrier and movable therewith, stationary cams concentrio with the axis of the carrier, a lever operatively connected with each plunger and having a running engagement with one cam for reciprocating the plungers to engage and disengage the caps of the cans, a rotatable sleeve on each plunger, a lever operatively connected with each sleeve and having a running engagement with the other cam, means for simultaneously rotating the sleeves, a bracket rotatable with each sleeve and held against longitudinal movement therewith, a lever mounted on each bracket, means for holding the last-mentioned lever yieldingly in a given position, and a crimping wheel carried by the last-mentioned lever and cooperating with the associated plunger to crimp a cap on a can. 4. In a can capping machine, nation of a plunger movable longitudinally, an actuating lever loosely connected with the plunger and preventing rotation of the latter, a longitudinally and rotatably movable sleeve on the plunger, a springencircling the plunger and yieldingly opposing movement thereof in one direction, a ballbearing between the sleeve and spring, means for rotating the sleeve, means for longitudinally moving the sleeve, and a crimping wheel carried by the sleeve.

the ma naeneve 5. in a can capping machine, the combination of a plunger movable longitudinally, an actuating lever loosely connected with the plunger and preventing rotation of the latter, a longitudinally and rotatably movable sleeve on the plunger, a spring encircling the plunger and yieldingly opposing movement thereof in one direction, a ball bearing between the sleeve and spring, a tubu; lar member feathered to the sleeve, means for rotating the said member, a lever operating on the ball bearing to move the sleeve longitudinally, and a crimping wheel mounted on the member and operatively connected with the sleeve, whereby the crimping wheel is revolved around the plunger and is moved longitudinally thereof.

6. lln a can capping machine, the combination of a plunger movable longitudinally,

an actuating lever loosely connected with,

the plunger and preventing rotation of the latter, a longitudinally androtatably movable sleeve on the plunger, a spring encircling the plunger and yieldingly opposing movement thereof in one direction, a ball bearing between the sleeve and spring, a

tubular member feathered to the sleeve,

means for rotating the said member, a lever operating on the ball bearing to move the sleeve longitudinally, a crimping wheel mounted on the member and operatively connected with the sleeve, whereby the crimping wheel is revolved around the plunger and is moved longitudinally thereof, and spring means operatively connected with the crimpingv wheel to retract the. same from crimping position.

Jomv EDGAR mere. 

